Great Western Ambulance Service (GWAS) has bowed to public pressure and will no longer use the money donated to the Wiltshire Air Ambulance Appeal to pay the wages of paramedics.

From tomorrow GWAS will be responsible for paying the wages of the paramedics on board the Wiltshire Air Ambulance.

The appeal’s funds has been used to pay the paramedics’ wages since GWAS was established five years ago and for several years before that by the Wiltshire Ambulance Service.

It is thought that no other air ambulance charity pays the wages of its paramedics – which costs the Wiltshire Air Ambulance Appeal £240,000 a year – and campaigners have hailed the decision a victory for common sense.

The change has been agreed as part of the move to establish the Wiltshire Air Ambulance Appeal as an independent charity with GWAS relinquishing its role as the sole trustee.

David Philpott, who was appointed chairman of the appeal last July with the specific remit of establishing it as an independent charity, said: “...This is a significant breakthrough and is a natural progression in the onward march to becoming a stand alone charity.”

Dr Richard Riseley-Prichard, co-founder of the appeal and who lives in Allington near Devizes, said: “Paying the paramedics’ wages from the appeal fund was something I was opposed to from the very start.

“It was meant to be only for a limited period when funding of Wiltshire Ambulance Service was extremely tight.

“There was no intention for it to have lasted. It has been a great abuse of public donations.”

The air ambulance appeal is funded entirely by donations from the public and has to raise £700,000 a year to keep the air ambulance flying.

A spokesman for GWAS said of the paramedics’ salaries issue: “GWAS recognises this is a sensitive issue so is looking at ways to secure alternative funding, including through ongoing discussions with our commissioners.”